TIFF: A Mother on Trial in ‘Saint Omer’

By Abe Friedtanzer

Last week, France narrowd its list of contenders for the Oscar submission to five. Three of them played at TIFF – One Fine Morning, Paris Memories, and Saint Omer. The last of those has the advantage at the moment thanks to its two prizes at the Venice Film Festival. It’s a difficult, focused drama that deals with motherhood, national identity, and the justice system in France…

The narrative begins with Rama (Kayije Kagame), a newly pregnant novelist. After a few interactions with her family, the story shifts to the trial she is attending, where a Senegalese immigrant, Laurence (Guslagie Malanda), stands accused of leaving her fifteen-month-old daughter by the ocean to be swept away in the tide. As the judge relays the evidence and asks her questions, Laurence does not deny what happened, but can also offer no explanation for why she did it, expressing that she hopes the trial can answer that.

 

This is not a typical courtroom drama in that each person speaking does so without interruption, and there is little indication of sensationalism. It is a very frontal experience, during which the camera only occasionally moves from the speaker to show someone watching, such as Rama or Laurence’s mother, who watches hopelessly from the front row. Rama having her own reservations about becoming a mother is not helped from what she is witnessing, and she stands in for the audience as someone unsure of Laurence’s authenticity but fully aware that there exists no option for a good resolution.

Saint Omer marks the narrative debut of established documentary filmmaker Alice Diop. It contains clear traces of the nonfiction format, though it does feel vivid and polished in a way that documentary often does not. The use of transcripts from a real-life case to provide some of the dialogue doesn’t make it feel any less like a living and breathing story, one that has added weight due to Rama being there as an observer, taking unfortunate inspiration from everything she learns about Laurence. Just as there are no definitive or satisfactory answers to be found in the course of the trial, the film also presents few of them, but its straightforward depiction of the dissection of one person’s complicated life is haunting and resounding. B+ 

Saint Omer is screening in the Special Presentations category at TIFF.